There currently exists the concept of a TCP connection that is set up over a wireless link, such as in a cellular network. Wireless TCP (WTCP) is a TCP protocol that is optimized for use in wireless environments. Wireless links are prone to long latencies and high error rates. These factors can make the conventional TCP perform poorly in the wireless link environment, as the end-to-end TCP dynamics is usually not fast enough to track the variations in the wireless link quality and thus the wireless link, which usually is the bottleneck in the end-to-end path, is not optimally used. In an attempt to overcome these problems the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF, http://ietf.org/html.charters/pilc-charter.html), as well as the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA, http://www.openmobilealliance.org/tech/affiliates/wap/wap-225-tcp-20010331-a.pdf) have recommended a number of enhancements to conventional TCP to make it more efficient over wireless links.
One proposed enhancement recommends splitting the end-to-end TCP connection at certain intermediate network entities. For example, and referring to FIG. 1, if a mobile station (MS) 1 is to set up a TCP connection with application web server 2 in the wired Internet 4, it is recommended that one TCP connection be set up over a wireless access network 5 between the MS 1 and an intermediate network entity, sometimes referred to as a performance enhancing proxy (PEP) 3, while another TCP connection is set up between the PEP 3 and the web server 2. This enables the connection between the MS 1 and the intermediate network entity (the PEP 3) to run a version of TCP that is optimized for wireless links (also referred to as wireless profiled TCP), while the other connection runs the conventional (wireline) TCP. The intermediate network entity or PEP 3 can reside on a WAP proxy or on a gateway between the wireless access network 5 and the Internet 4.
As may be appreciated, an appropriate signaling mechanism is required to set up a split TCP connection in a cellular communications network, such as in the CDMA network architecture or in the GPRS/UMTS network architecture. Further, in the case of a mobile-to-mobile session, the PEPs 3 at each of two ends may need to communicate so that an appropriate split TCP connection can be set up.
However, while it is known in the prior art (e.g., IETF's Performance Implication of Link Characteristics (PILC) working group and the WAP 2.0 protocol) to recommend the use of the split TCP connection for performance enhancement, no mechanisms are available or have been proposed, to the knowledge of the inventors, to actually set up such split TCP connections in a cellular environment. Note in this regard that if the PEP 3 is to reside on a priori known network elements, such as on a WAP Proxy, then no specific mechanism is needed other than to have address of the WAP Proxy configured in the mobile station or other type of terminal. However, if the PEP 3 is to be hosted on a network element such as the GGSN/PDSN, these elements are not a priori known to the mobile station, as the specific GGSN/PDSN that the terminal connects to depends on the location of the mobile station.